Life As A Fairytale
by 23a
Summary: Sequel to "Discovering Storybrooke," where Elle chronicles the continuing adventures she and Evan face living in Storybrooke, starting with Season 4B and continuing through the end of Season 5.
1. Date Interrupted

Evan smiled. "Elle, has anyone ever told you that you're really cute?"

"Evan, has anyone ever told you that you don't have to say silly things like that to me? I'm already your girlfriend."

He laughed. "I really like you, Elle. I mean... We've been dating for more than a month now, which is pretty serious."

"Yeah, I suppose it is," I said. "I've never had a boyfriend before."

"Me neither," he said. I stuck my tongue out at him.

'"This is so great."

"It really is. This is one of the best movies I've ever seen."

"You made pretty good popcorn, too."

"Thanks."

"Anyway, I think we should celebrate six weeks since something crazy has gone down in this town."

"I agree," he said. "Sounds great."

"Elle, dear," said my mother, coming in the door. "Oh, hello Evan. Kids, I was just at Granny's, and guess what I overheard?"

"Mom, you are not getting us wrapped up in something else that is going on in Storybrooke! You're not, right?"

"Elowena, listen to your mother for a change. Anyway, some people might be coming to town."

"That's great for them," I said. "Mom, what happened to normal life?"

"Sweetie, when strange...er people are in town, life is never really normal. I just think we should be prepared, is all."

"She's probably right," said Evan. "Being prepared is good. I'll go talk to my parents."

I sighed. "Alright, Evan. See you later."

He left, and I glared at my mom. "Mom, you chased away my boyfriend!"

"I know," she replied. "Added bonus."

"Mom!"

"You two are too young to be dating. Just be friends! It works out better anyway."

"I am not listening to this speech again." I went up to my room.


	2. New Arrivals

"Give me literally one good reason why I should care that a couple of witches are coming to town. Even with Rumpelstiltskin in tow."

"Well, it's always valuable to be an informed citizen. Especially when there are people that might come and kill you!"

"Mom, they have no business with me, I've never met any of them except Rumpelstiltskin and him only briefly. I doubt they're in the business of killing random people, as long as those people don't get in their way."

"So you're okay with letting them murder people as long as they're not you?"

"Mom, I'm a fourteen year old girl. What can I possibly do that the people in charge can't do?"

"Well I'm not saying you should _do_ anything, dear, just care about what's going on!"

"Fine. I do care, Mom. I just don't think there's any need to get paranoid over it."

"Stop dating Evan!"

"What the heck, Mom?! Subject change much?"

"Elle, I-"

"I've heard it, Mom. Bye."

* * *

Putting my hair up into a blonde ponytail, I ran outside to where _my boyfriend_ was waiting. I didn't care what Mom said, Evan was my boyfriend and that was that. I knew she wanted what was best for me, she just didn't get what that was. She would never let me do what we were doing.

"This is safe, right?" Evan asked when he saw me.

"Oh yeah. What could go wrong?"

"A _lot_ of things. You want to spy on the town line!"

"Uh-huh."

"Elle, that's completely crazy!"

"It's the Elowena Greene trademark: Crazy is what you get. Now come on, let's go."

* * *

By the time we had made it to the town line (my magic was not strong enough for teleportation yet), there was nobody there and it seemed whoever was coming had made it into town already. We had visitors.


	3. A Boring Story

"They really aren't affecting us, are they?" I said as Evan and I sat on the couch eating potato chips.

"Nope."

"I hate that these people are in town and have like, no impact on our lives but could kill us all at any moment."

"Yeah, it's simultaneously boring and terrifying."

"In constant danger: Living life as usual."

"It could be worse. They could be actually attacking us."

"Yeah... do you think we should try to find out what's going on?"

"I don't know. We could get in trouble."

"That's true, but that's never really stopped me before."

"You mean like the time you made your mom drive you to Maine so you could explore a mysterious town?"

"Yeah, like that time."

"Well, I guess we could... but I like our lives. And the important people haven't failed to protect us yet."

"I guess that's true. But Rumpelstiltskin is on the bad side now."

"It'll be fine. Emma and Regina can handle, like, anything."

"Yeah, okay. I'm sure we're fine."

"Maybe you should ask Henry about it in class."

"Henry doesn't like me, and he mostly just talks to Grace anyway."

"Do you think they're a thing?"

"No, I don't think so."

"When did we get so bored we've resorted to gossip about our classmates?"

"I don't know. Want to go online and see if there are any interesting new YouTube videos up?"

He shrugged. "Yeah, sure."

* * *

"Hey, Mom. How was work?"

"Fine. Have you and Evan agreed to stop dating yet?"

"No, and we aren't going to! Did you find anything out?"

"Um... I think Ursula left to go live happily under the sea or something. That's what one of the nurses says. I really don't know, I haven't been paying attention either."

"Fair enough. Do we have anything to worry about?"

"Not that I know of."

"Great."


	4. Dangerous Town

"Is it over yet? Are they gone?"

"Elle, you ask me that every day! I don't know. Maybe yes, maybe no."

"This is so annoying. How can anybody stand to live in a town where there are constant threats to their very existence and they don't even know the status of the threats."

"You know, dear, I've been meaning to talk to you about that."

"Yeah?"

"I've been thinking... this town really _isn't_ safe."

"Mom... no!"

"Maybe we should leave."

"I don't want to go back to Boston. It was boring there, and I didn't like it, and I just... well, I just don't want to live there anymore. Life there was no fun."

"I actually wasn't thinking about Boston."

"Then what?"

"Well, there's an opening for a job in New York."

"New York?"

"Yeah."

"Mom, I don't-"

"Elle, it's not Boston, with whatever you hated about life there, and it's not Storybrooke, with the constant threats to existence. I think maybe we should move to New York."

"What about Evan?"

"Well..."

"Wait, Mom, aren't there all sorts of issues crossing the town line? What if we can't get back?"

"We may not be able to."

"Mom! He's my friend! Come on, we've lived here for a while now, I like it here. Sure, it feels boring at times, but it's less boring than Boston. And if I don't know anything about what's going on with the villains, they definitely don't know anything about me. So we're probably safe, unless they destroy the whole town."

"If you say so. But this place really is dangerous."

"I know. But I think it deserves its fair shot."

"I think it's had more than its fair shot already, but okay. We'll stay, until we're in legitimate danger."

"Great!"


	5. Leaving Town

Mom walked in and put her coat on the rack. "Hi," I said from the couch, where I was reading a book. "What's going on?"

"There is some new information."

"Really? What?"

"Maleficent had a child."

"A child?"

"Yeah. She had it taken away from her and sent to this world, and she's doing all this to find out what happened to it."

"She's putting people in danger."

"It's her child."

"Doesn't make it okay."

"Elle, I would do the same thing for you."

"You would hurt people?"

"Well... no, maybe not... I don't know, honestly. The thing about having kids is that you would do anything for them." She took a deep breath. "And that's why we're leaving town."

"What?! Mom, no! You promised!"

"I did. But you're my daughter, Elle, and your safety is everything to me."

"Mom, I don't want to leave Evan."

"Well, that's just too bad, isn't it."

"Mom!"

"We're leaving tomorrow. You can say goodbye to him."

"I can't believe you!"

"This is what we're doing. End of story."

* * *

I walked to Evan's apartment, knocking hesitantly. His father answered the door. "Elle, right?"

"Yeah. Is Evan home?"

"He is. Evan!" he called up the stairs. "Elle is here to see you!"

Evan came downstairs with a smile. "Hey."

"Evan, I need to talk to you."

He frowned. "Okay..."

"My mom is-she's..." I took a deep breath. "We're moving out of Storybrooke. Tomorrow."

"What? Why?"

"She says... the town isn't safe anymore."

"It's never been safe."

"Yeah, well, that's pretty much what I meant."

"But it's home."

"Not to her."

He sighed. "I'll miss you, Elle."

"I'll miss you too."

He smiled and kissed me, and then it was over. "Goodbye."

"Goodbye."

And then I left.


	6. The Way Back

I had to get back to Storybrooke. Three days in New York City had shown me that this life was absolutely not the life I wanted to be living. Sure, there was no longer a daily threat to my existence, but there was also even less happening here than there. It wasn't just Evan that I missed, it was the whole sense of adventure. I wanted to know what was happening with those three evil ladies, if there were other threats, what the royal family was up to-a royal family! That was something I sure as hell was not going to find in New York. But Mom's mind was made up. She was not going back. Which meant I had to find a way to get back on my own. I did have magic... but this was a land without magic, so that didn't really do me any good. What could I do? How could I get back to my town? My town... it was weird to call it that. I had only been living there... what, a few months? I had spent longer in the Enchanted Forest than Storybrooke! But I had felt more at home in Storybrooke than I had ever felt in any other place in all my life (which, admittedly, wasn't very long); I felt that I fit right in with the magic and the royalty and the crazy shenanigans that went down there. And I wanted to get back. Back home. I just didn't know how.

When I got home from school one day, Mom wasn't home from work yet, and I got a completely crazy idea. A terrible idea, actually. The kind of stupid thing that only an insane person would do. Good thing I was a little bit insane. Grabbing my coat and enough money for a few cab rides and a bus ticket, I scrawled a quick note, left it on the counter, and walked out the door. I didn't really intend to run away, of course. When Mom got home, she would see the note, and she would follow me to the bus station. She would conveniently catch me before the bus left. And I would convince her how much I loved Storybrooke, and how much I wanted to go back. Then, hopefully, she would agree for us to go back there.

The plan almost worked.

"Elle, you're insane! You're grounded for... three months! At least! Maybe longer!"

"Mom, I just wanted to show you that I was serious about wanting to go back to Storybrooke."

"I know you were serious! But it's dangerous there, and I want you to be safe!"

"So you don't care if I'm happy?!"

She frowned. "Elle, your safety is the primary concern to me. I would hope that you can find happiness here."

"Well, Evan, my other friends, and everything exciting is back in Storybrooke, so how exactly am I supposed to do that?!"

She shrugged. "Figure it out."

I went up to my room and sat down on the bed with a sigh. Maybe I should just have really run away. Maybe I still should. Whatever it took, I would find my way back to Storybrooke.


	7. Returning

It was another impossibly slow week before Mom entered my room. "Elle."

"Hi." I didn't look up at her. We weren't exactly on speaking terms.

"I've received a message from Storybrooke."

That piqued my interest; I looked at her. "Oh?"

"The witches and Rumpelstiltskin have been defeated."

"Good," I replied. Did this mean... was it possible?

"Emma was infected by some dark magic or something, and Granny's diner disappeared with several people in it."

"Um... ok." I groaned internally; more danger meant we would never go back.

"So, there doesn't appear to be any immediate danger... we can go back to Storybrooke."

At first I didn't dare to believe it. "Really?"

She nodded with a smile, and I jumped up and ran over to hug her.

"Thank you, Mom."

"Well, the new job isn't working out, so I think you should thank them."

* * *

The next day, we were back in Storybrooke. I ran to Evan's place.

"Elle?!"

"Evan! Hi!"

"What are you doing here?"

"We moved back!"

"Oh! That's, um, that's great!" He hugged me.

I frowned. "Evan? Is something wrong."

"No, it's just a little surprising when your girlfriend who moved away more than a week ago suddenly shows up at your door."

I shrugged. "That's fair. Definitely fair. So, how's life been?"

"Fine."

* * *

Everything resumed mostly as it had been before. Mom went back to working for the hospital, I caught up on my missed schoolwork, and Evan and I resumed our relationship, much to Mom's discontent. Before I knew it, we had already been back in Storybrooke for longer than we had been away for, and I felt once again like I belonged with all these fairytale characters-even though many of the most well-known ones were now missing. There was wild speculation as to where they had gone, what had happened to them, what the darkness being put into Emma meant. Conspiracy theories filled the time. I blinked again and we had been back for nearly six weeks.

Then, suddenly...

"They're back!" The cry swept through the town. The people who had been away had returned, with the diner. They had been, apparently, in Camelot. But now they were back... not back to normal, though. Emma was the Dark One now.


	8. Darkness

Emma being the Dark One was wrong. She was a nice person, that much I knew despite not knowing her. The idea that she was evil simply didn't make any sense. She'd wiped everyone's memories who had been in Camelot, and now she was plotting something mysterious in her house. Something that may or may not affect the town-and me.

I didn't pay much attention. Evan and I continued to progress our relationship, and I pretended this was just a normal town, even though it wasn't.

Then she sped up Zelena's pregnancy.

* * *

It seemed she had some plan to get rid of the darkness entirely by putting it all into Zelena and then destroying it. To do that, she wanted to get the baby out so she wouldn't harm it. Then there was something involving Hook, and how she had made him into a second Dark One to save his life. As soon as he remembered that, he turned evil.

"Seems everyone's turning evil," said Evan. "First Rumpelstiltskin, but now he's supposedly good now, then Emma and Hook."

"Yeah. But at least it's not really affecting us like all the stuff before did. It's just affecting them."

"For now. Who knows what an evil pirate will do?"

* * *

The evil pirate was dead now. He had summoned all the Dark Ones and had tried to get them to kill Emma's family, then sacrificed himself to save them all. But it appeared that Emma wasn't okay with that, now that the darkness was out of her, and had taken some people to the Underworld to bring him back.

"People can come back from the dead now?"

"Apparently."

"This town is weird."


	9. Untold Stories

It was a few days later when they came back from the Underworld, Hook with them. It seemed ridiculous that they could bring people back from the dead now. It went against the laws of magic. What was more, there were apparently actual gods involved. As if fairytales weren't enough. The stories surrounding this town were strange and getting more complicated by the minute. But an even more drastic change was coming.

It seemed that Rumpelstiltskin had turned dark again. I had heard that all the darkness was removed from him, but that must have been a lie. Now, he was trying to eradicate magic entirely, something to do with waking Belle from a sleeping curse.

Henry had gone after him in New York, along with his girlfriend, Violet. As it happened, Mom had a job interview in New York that day; she had let us come back to the town, but was still insistent on leaving it eventually. So I was in front of the library when Henry made his speech. It seemed ridiculous, the whole idea of it; he would never get all these New Yorkers to believe in magic. Yet somehow they did, and they made their wish, and a portal opened.

Now we're back in Storybrooke, but a ship is coming. A ship full of people from another land, one known as the Land of Untold Stories. They're coming to our town to finish their stories, and everything's going to change.

But that's okay. Because when you live in a town of magic and fairytales, change is part of the game. And you just have to hope that everything will turn out for the best.

 **A/N: The End.**


End file.
